The One Ring RPG: New LOTR RPG

[Treebore]

On one hand I am excited to see Cubicle 7 behind this. That is a very good sign in my book. On the other I was very under whelmed by the board game.

[Omote]

The production of the book should be great. The hints at the rules of this project just don't jump out as exciting in any way. Oh well.

~O

[Treebore]

The production of the book should be great. The hints at the rules of this project just don't jump out as exciting in any way. Oh well.

~O

Which is why my being underwhelmed by the board game is significant, written by the same guy. So yeah, not feeling very hopeful at this point. Hopefully the final look will get me excited.

[Joe]

You guys are funny.
How about if we buy the book if interested enough to bother and make a call on the game after reading it...if not dare I suggest...playing it?

I was playing in Middle Earth way back with Gygax's AD&D no problem.
I played it with 2e, MERP, Rolemaster no problem.

I have a collection of old ICE stuff, had no interest in the Decipher stuff, and can use any game system i want for a Middle Earth game any time I want.

I simply call the halfling hobbits, give the elves more height, eternal lifespan, and waaaaaaaay more class and voila...we have a Middle Earth game. This obsession with "official" stuff eludes me.

If you want a LOTR game, build a village named Hobbiton, and go from there just like ANY OTHER CAMPAIGN YOU HAVE EVER RAN.
Instead of Hommelet its called Hobbiton, let the pc's explore their worlsd and learn more as they do...like any other campaign, and before you know it you will have folks telling stories about, "Remember our Middle earth campaign and when we went into Moria?"

Never let licenses or rules sets interfere with your imagination.
You don't need a game company when you have the words of JRR himself.
Go to Middle Earth...and enjoy!

Seriously though...I never owned Greyhawk either.
I had a map I think I got from some dragon magazine and I had my imagination. That was enough for years of adventure just as legit as any other.
I was in high school before I played in an "official" game of greyhawk and guess what?

The stuff we just made up was better!

[Treebore]

I actually agree with you Joe, which is why I say that I hope my final look changes my mind.

[Omote]

The production of the book should be great. The hints at the rules of this project just don't jump out as exciting in any way. Oh well.

~O

Which is why my being underwhelmed by the board game is significant, written by the same guy. So yeah, not feeling very hopeful at this point. Hopefully the final look will get me excited.

The best LOTR feel from a boardgame is Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings (from Fantasy Flight Games. That version of the game is the players versus the board itself and is all about cooperation. If you haven't tried it yet, you absolutely must. Reiner Knizia's LOTR is a classic.

~O

[Piperdog]

Anybody know the game mechanics of this thing? That aside, I am looking forward to the campaign sourcebook, which they promise to be epic in scale. I hope so, because while I loved the hell out of old Merp back in the day, it never felt epic. I created a campaign set after the fall of Sauron, where the sorcerer, the Mouth of Sauron, had taken up the cause to free Morgoth from the Abyss, and that was pretty cool, but still, this new line has the potential to be great. Heres to hoping.

[TheMetal1]

The best LOTR feel from a boardgame is Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings (from Fantasy Flight Games. That version of the game is the players versus the board itself and is all about cooperation. If you haven't tried it yet, you absolutely must. Reiner Knizia's LOTR is a classic.

~O

+1 on this. The LOTR is an excellent game. I have a lot of board games, some I haven't even tried out yet, but we always go back to a few and one of those is LOTR. Good stuff.

[Piperdog]

My brother and I actually got tickets to the One Ring for GenCon. The adventure sounds great too.

[Lord Dynel]

My brother and I actually got tickets to the One Ring for GenCon. The adventure sounds great too.

I got a ticket, too. I agree that the adventure sounds pretty interesting.

[Piperdog]

Talked to some guys at the Cubicle 7 booth at Origins, hoping to see a sneak peek, but to no avail. They said they were forced to make some sort of special expedited order for anything to be available at GenCon even. When I asked about game mechanics, I was told it is based off a d12, and that d6's also come into play somehow if you roll well on the d12. Other than a cryptic sentence or two, this was all i gleaned from them. I am not sure I like the sound of the mechanics already, but I will reserve judgement for after I have actually played in a game at GenCon.

[Skywalker]

Theres been a few useful posts over on RPGnet from people who have been following the developer's non-English posts.

Summary:

- roll a d12 and add one of your three Abilities - Heart, Might and Wits. 11 is a 0 and 12 is an automatic success. The special dice shows the 11 as the Rune for Saruman and the 12 as the Rune for Gandalf.

- for each Skill level roll a d6. If you are weary, ignore all 1, 2 and 3s. They are coloured White on the special dice.

- if you exceed the Difficulty (default is 14) you succeed. For each 6 you roll on your Skill dice you increase the level of success. You dont need to calcuate margin of success. The special dice have the Tengwar Rune next to the 6.

As promised, unlike WFRP3e, you can use normal d12s and d6s without much fuss, but the special dice will just make it even easier.

In terms of character creation, you choose a background. There are two for each listed in the C7 preview. This gives base Abilities and Skills. You then get to customise. It seems very quick and simple. You have two "health" stats. One to represent physical injury and the to represent weariness.

There is magic but no spell casters. All magic is specific to the races and is related in some way to Virtues. Virtues and generational gaming ideas are reminiscient of Pendragon.

Overall, I like what I see. Its all very Tolkien and simple with the mechanical gimmicks actually making things easier to use by reducing the need to calculate Margin of Success or apply fatigue penalties.

[Omote]

Cubicle 7 recently put up their pre-order/not-so-pre-order special.
http://shop.cubicle7store.com/epages/es ... rrency=USD

I'm, somewhat interested in this game. The mechanics not so much, but for the fluff, indeed! More stuff to convert to C&C. Perhaps.

~O

[Skywalker]

The mechanics look pretty good so far. Very simple and the most evocative of Tolkien's world I have seen (including MERP and CODA).

[Piperdog]

Thanks for the info on the mechanics! While I must admit, the mechanics have me underwhelmed at first glance, but I am open to see how they play. I have seen mechanics that looked strange or quirky on paper but play very well and other systems that look cool on paper that actually are a chore to play; so I will reserve judging it until after I play it. I am scheduled for an official game at GenCon, so will be able to give a review of it afterwards. If the set is available at GenCon, I will be buying it there, out of rpg addiction if for no other reason. It sounds like an incredible amount of effort went into making the setting and mechanics evoke the feel of Middle Earth, so I am excited to try this out.

[finarvyn]

The One Ring looks decent enough, but I would have snapped up a C&C Middle-earth game even faster.

[REHowardfanatic]

D12?
Yikes. Not a fan of the D12. It's the bastard child of polyhedrons, along with its sister D8...
Beyond anything as needling as that, I'm not a fan of the world as a campaign setting for an RPG. For a novel, hell yes, but an RPG has different demands, IMO. Middle Earth is a great world (second only to one, by Crom!) and Lord of the Rings is the single best fantasy tale ever woven, but I'm skeptical as to how well it will translate into an RPG. Much of what Tolkien wrote is very unbalanced for game play:

The magic is extremely esoteric, subtle stuff. And the wizards are literally demi-gods/angels, so how do you make that a PC class or race? Plus, there are 5 of them. No more, no less.

The elves are infamously flawless (Tolkien's only flaw as a storyteller is that they are flawless). I mean look at them- they are smarter, stronger, wiser, more perceptive, more mystically potent, more adpet craftsmen, greater sailors & rangers, and closer to God/nobler than any other race. The primary villainous race cowers in fear of them and even Sauron was intimidated by them. The only flaw Tolkien ever attributes to them is that they are slaves to fate. The only RPG I have ever seen that can even get close to making that a flaw is Pendragon, with its Passions and Traits system.

To really capture Tolkien in an RPG is a daunting task unless you simply ignore the balance issues. Which I did when I wrote them all up for C&C.

Still, C7 does great stuff. I hate the FATE system, but the quality of their Starblazers and Angleirre stuff is outstanding. Plus, their take on Dr. Who was extraordinary. They really got the mechanics of the game to sing the feel of the setting. I'm sure One Ring will be cool, but I'll stick to the pdf.

[Skywalker]

Yikes. Not a fan of the D12. It's the bastard child of polyhedrons, along with its sister D8...

I can't see need one being much of an issue given the game comes with one. As to the d12s aesthetics, it is probably one of the most stable dice given the high number of sides.

The magic is extremely esoteric, subtle stuff. And the wizards are literally demi-gods/angels, so how do you make that a PC class or race? Plus, there are 5 of them. No more, no less.

There are no spellcasters in The One Ring as mentioned above, so no race or class needed. There is subtle racial magic as seen in the books but nothing more.

The only flaw Tolkien ever attributes to them is that they are slaves to fate. The only RPG I have ever seen that can even get close to making that a flaw is Pendragon, with its Passions and Traits system.

Fortunately, Pendragon is the biggest inspiration for The One Ring with generational gameplay and a Virtue/Trait system.

I can see how you can do some of this with the system as already presented. Elves could have high Attributes but low Hope compared to mortal races representing their superiority but also the sense of inevitability and diminishment. Tie it into Virtues and you are away.

Still, C7 does great stuff. I hate the FATE system, but the quality of their Starblazers and Angleirre stuff is outstanding. Plus, their take on Dr. Who was extraordinary. They really got the mechanics of the game to sing the feel of the setting. I'm sure One Ring will be cool, but I'll stick to the pdf.

FWIW C7 aren't designing The One Ring, just producing. The designer is Sophisticated Games who are behind a plethora of well received Lord of the Rings board games such as The War of the Ring, Middle Earth Quest, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Whatever else you say about them, they know their Tolkien.

[GoOrange]

The d12 is my least favorite die and this makes me wary of a game that uses it often. The problem is that of all the dice I own, this one rolls for the longest time and covers the greatest distance, making it a pain to roll at a table. (I'm guessing this is due to the fact that each face on a d12 is a pentagon, and so off all the standard dice the d12 has the most number of sides per face). While I don't mind the occasional d12, making it an integral part of the game can be frustrating.

[Sir Ironside]

The d12 is my least favorite die and this makes me wary of a game that uses it often. The problem is that of all the dice I own, this one rolls for the longest time and covers the greatest distance, making it a pain to roll at a table. (I'm guessing this is due to the fact that each face on a d12 is a pentagon, and so off all the standard dice the d12 has the most number of sides per face). While I don't mind the occasional d12, making it an integral part of the game can be frustrating.

One would think, in the standard fair, the d20 would be the most guilty of this (Even physics backs this up.). By another popular thread you'd figure the d30 would even be worse and the d100 the worst by far.

You must really hate both Savage Tales and The Cortex system.

Just how do you guys roll your d12? A Mini-cannon?

[REHowardfanatic]

I dunno. I roll that D12 normally, but it does like to roll low. I can't explain it. I have been rolling D12s for 28 years and they don't like to roll high for me. Maybe they roll fine for you, and if they do, great for you. D8s do the same thing to me.

Now if it was D6s or D4s then those dice always roll very well for me. For example, the 1st AD&D character I ever created, rolling only 3D6 and keeping what I roll, garnered two 18's and one 17. But wait, there's more- EVERY AD&D character I have EVER created has had at least one 17.

So... I guess I am saying that I am not arguing probability. I don't need to retake Statistics anymore than I need to retake History of the English Language (edit: NOR DO I WANT TO RETAKE THEM). I am not, in fact, arguing at all. My personal aesthetic/luck that I have witnessED in 28 years of gaming (and gaming a lot) is that D12s and D8s are plotting to kill me in my sleep.

On the plus side, the One Ring does sound cool-- and it sounds like it's being done by guys who know their shit, so that is awesome. As I said, I will probably get the pdf. I've owned MERPS and Decipher's Lord of the Rings, too, but my experience is that I won't run them and my players won't play them. I'm afraid I chose my moniker all too well here. As brilliant as Tolkien obviously was, I have always liked Howard better. That is not a critical assessment of Tolkien's writing, just a personal preference. Hyboria speaks to me in a way that Middle Earth never could. Maybe it's the cultural/geographical similarities I share with Howard?

[Sir Ironside]

I dunno. I roll that D12 normally, but it does like to roll low. I can't explain it. I have been rolling D12s for 28 years and they don't like to roll high for me. Maybe they roll fine for you, and if they do, great for you. D8s do the same thing to me.

Anecdotal evidence is not evidence.

Now if it was D6s or D4s then those dice always roll very well for me. For example, the 1st AD&D character I ever created, rolling only 3D6 and keeping what I roll, garnered two 18's and one 17. But wait, there's more- EVERY AD&D character I have EVER created has had at least one 17.

The human mind is conditioned to pay more attention to the negatives/positives when a belief is involved. In short, you probably high-light the low roles and forget all the high-ones. It bites the other way to, your one example is prevalent in your mind because the odds of doing something like that are pretty low. Playing for 28 years would suggest you've created a lot of characters and I highly doubt those d6's are a constant in your gaming. The 3d6 system of rolling creates a bell-curve that it is more likely that you'll roll 11's and 12's and keeping most scores in the favorable area and a better chance at rolling 16's and 17's than a d20.

Just for fun, sit down and roll a d12 (Or, d8 or, d6's or, d4's) 40 times, keep track of highs and lows, then compare the result to your perception. I'm not really interested in your result as most people will "lie" to prove their point unless there is a independent observer. I'll just leave it to being honest with yourself. (It is pretty well known that rpg gamers hold some kind of "luck" tradition with their dice. Blowing on them before rolling, not letting other people use their dice, changing dice if the perceive that the current one is unlucky, not letting other dice touch tainted dice, breaking out that special die when you need a positive result etc. when chance is still chance no matter what tradition you use. You just get a dopamine like rush when one roll validates your superstition. Again, making those good roles over-shadow the bad ones making it seem like your tradition works.)

I once played in a game of Illuminati that in a last gamble effort, the player needed to roll snake-eyes to win or all would be lost. He confidently took up the dice, looked the other player in the eye, rolled without looking at the die and rolled the snake-eyes he needed, while stating, "I won!" before the dice hit the table. A seemingly remarkable show of luck that had to be influenced by some awesome skill of manipulating the outcome. When really in playing many games of Illuminati that is the one and only time I've ever seen that. He was lucky indeed, the showmanship certainly helped the legend, but all the other times the same thing happened it failed and was far less dramatic and I have no tales of, "The great failure."

Every once-in-awhile someone gets hit by lightening, and it is well covered in the media. Unfortunately, (Outside of weather shows.) all the millions of lightening strikes that do not hit people, each year, are never covered in the media. Hamsters kill more people per year than lightening strikes but, no one cares about hamsters.

So... I guess I am saying that I am not arguing probability. I don't need to retake Statistics anymore than I need to retake History of the English Language. I am not, in fact, arguing at all. My personal aesthetic/luck that I have witness in 28 years of gaming (and gaming a lot) is that D12s and D8s are plotting to kill me in my sleep.

Hyperbole (Negative and positive.) also makes some people feel special.

Sir Ironside = killjoy means I have no friends.

[REHowardfanatic]

Anyway...

Skywalker- I reread the initial description. I missed the bit about Pendragon as an inspiration. That is very good news, indeed. When I ran LOTR with Pendragon I made the elves take extremes in their passions- everthing was an 18/2. I thought this reflected The Silmarillion's elves who always seemed to be in the grip of some wild notion or another. It didn't work so well, but I thought it was a better solution than giving the elves super high attributes.

For that matter, Warhammer 1st edition has very Tolkienish elves, and they are ridiculous. They had one less Wound than humans and eight attributes rated higher. The remaining three attributes were equal. They did have fewer Fate Points, though, so that's something... (I rewrote them to be a little more fair to the other players.)

The D12... I mean, like I said, just not my favorite. No scientific explanation, just, you know, personal preference (I believe we are still allowed such, aren't we?). Still, I like dice with cool scribbles on them like the runes of Gandalf and Saruman, so that is appealing. After all, I got WEG's DC Universe RPG mostly because the D6s were cool!

I've not played any of the LOTR board games, though I thought they looked great.

Like I said, this game has pdf written all over it for me. I hope it is great, and I think there is a real chance it will be, but with C&C and WH1 in my possession, I really have no need for other fantasy RPGs.

[Skywalker]

Skywalker- I reread the initial description. I missed the bit about Pendragon as an inspiration. That is very good news, indeed. When I ran LOTR with Pendragon I made the elves take extremes in their passions- everthing was an 18/2. I thought this reflected The Silmarillion's elves who always seemed to be in the grip of some wild notion or another. It didn't work so well, but I thought it was a better solution than giving the elves super high attributes.

I think generational play may also have an impact here. TOR is designed to be played over many generations (Bilblo-Frodo, Gloin-Gimli etc). I think there will be ways in here to balance things with immortal elves who will retain the same PC throughout.

Like I said, this game has pdf written all over it for me. I hope it is great, and I think there is a real chance it will be, but with C&C and WH1 in my possession, I really have no need for other fantasy RPGs.

FWIW the dice should be sold seperately for PDF buyers.

One downside to getting just the PDF will be not getting the lovely maps including hexmap.

[REHowardfanatic]

Much like Bilbo I have a great love of maps, so if the maps are good, I will probably end up buying this... Sigh. Maps. Why did it have to have maps?

[Skywalker]

They look very good (and one has hexes!)

[GoOrange]

One would think, in the standard fair, the d20 would be the most guilty of this (Even physics backs this up.). By another popular thread you'd figure the d30 would even be worse and the d100 the worst by far.

Well, a d20 has only 3 sides to each face, 2 less than a d12 which has 5.

[REHowardfanatic]

Looks pretty sweet, Skywalker.

[Skywalker]

Well, a d20 has only 3 sides to each face, 2 less than a d12 which has 5.

Doesn't more straight sides make it more stable? A triangle is less stable compared to a square or pentagon, right?

I feel we are moving off topic...

[Sir Ironside]

Well, a d20 has only 3 sides to each face, 2 less than a d12 which has 5.

Doesn't more straight sides make it more stable? A triangle is less stable compared to a square or pentagon, right?

I feel we are moving off topic...

Yeah kind of my fault, posting a post that was never needed for this thread. Sometimes I just can't help myself though.

Back to the game.

I know some people are not enamored with the simple rules. But, these days I prefer a more simple system. And, from what I gathered this seems like a robust system rather than dumb-down one.